Bonnaroo isn't the only music festival Jack White will be hitting this summer. The Nashville-based rocker is among the headliners of this year's Forecastle Festival, taking place July 18-20 in Louisville, Ky.

White shares the top of the bill with reunited hip-hop legends Outkast and alt-rock mainstay Beck, who recorded portions of his new album, "Morning Phase," in Nashville.

A "limited number" of weekend passes will go on sale at 11 a.m. CT. Fri., March 7 at ForecastleFest.com, Ticketmaster.com and all Ticketmaster outlets. Weekend passes start at $144.50, plus service fees. Full details and info on VIP tickets, travel packages and payment plans is available at forecastlefest.com/tickets.

John, who will close out Bonnaroo 2014 with a Sunday-night show, has performed in Nashville several times over the last few years. But the Bonnaroo appearance will be his first — and it marks his first-ever U.S. music festival show. It comes a year after another knighted Brit, the prestigious Sir Paul McCartney, headlined the four-day festival.

CLICK THE PHOTO ABOVE for a gallery of Nashville-connected artists who performed in the 55th Grammy Awards in 2013. Here, Taylor Swift performs on stage during the show in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

Which means the city’s musicians have only three slots in the four all-genre categories: Taylor Swift for best album, and Kacey Musgraves and new resident Ed Sheeran for top new artist. And some of Music City’s commercial blockbusters (Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line) and critically hailed works (such as Jason Isbell’s “Southeastern” album in Americana and Caitlyn Rose’s “The Stand-In” in country and pop) received no nominations, just like our symphony and our other classical and jazz artists.

But if this is a down year, then things are looking up.

Tonight’s 56th annual Grammy Awards will offer plenty of showcases for Music City performers both contemporary and vintage. Swift will play a prominent role, performing onstage at Staples Center and competing in the races for best album, best country album, country song and country duo or group performance (with “Highway Don’t Care” conspirators Tim McGraw and Keith Urban). Her fellow country crossover superstar Urban will perform with guitarist Gary Clark Jr., and young guitar-slinger Hunter Hayes will perform his new, emotion-drenched single, “Invisible,” during the show.

Jack White was 15 years into his recording career before he released his first solo album in 2012 - but it looks like listeners won't be waiting much longer for a followup.

In a recent online chat with fans, the Nashville rock musician said he's "producing two albums this month, and finishing them. One of them is mine."

If White's alluding to a new solo effort, it would be his first since his 2012 debut "Blunderbuss," which bowed at No. 1 on the Billboard charts and scored several Grammy nominations, including a nod for album of the year.

She came to Middle Tennessee from Pennsylvania at 14, and in the ensuing near-decade she has become an international superstar, and a wealthy young woman. Those are rare and laudable things, but they’ve been done before.

Swift, though, is unprecedented. She came to popular attention with Top 10 country hit “Tim McGraw” when she was 16, becoming the first mid-teenage singer-songwriter to do so since Janis Ian hit the Top 20 with “Society’s Child” in 1967. And Swift has made the most graceful transition from teen stardom to adult music career since Brenda Lee, who recorded signature hit “I’m Sorry” at age 15 and maintained an impeccable image on her way to the country music and rock and roll halls of fame.

Yet these are not the reasons that The Tennessean recognizes Swift as the 2013 Tennessean of the Year.

Swift has become a worldwide ambassador for Tennessee’s capital city, an example to millions of young (and not-so-young) people of how to turn damaged feelings into healing creativity, and a financial booster to some of the city’s most important institutions. In October, the Taylor Swift Education Center opened at the greatly expanded Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, courtesy of Swift’s $4 million gift, the largest individual artist gift in the museum’s history.

The center, which opened ahead of schedule in October, spans two floors and includes three classrooms, a learning lab and, coming in 2014, an interactive exhibit gallery. It gives the museum seven times more space for education.

And this month, on her birthday, Swift offered up $100,000 to the Nashville Symphony, an organization that endured severe financial uncertainty in 2013. For the second consecutive year, Swift topped DoSomething.org’s list of the top 20 charitable celebrities, and much of her generosity is intended for the betterment of Nashville.

“For her to believe in us, the hometown institutions, and to be focused on Nashville speaks volumes,” says Kyle Young, the director and chief executive officer of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “How often do you think she’s approached to do things, all over the world? So it means so much for her to believe in us and think that investments here would help the city she clearly cares so much about.”

The ambassador

In many ways, Swift carries Nashville and its music all over the world.

But Benson and his fans will certainly be rewarded - among those taking the stage on Wednesday is Jack White (who co-fronts sporadic supergroup The Raconteurs with Benson), Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Eric Burdon of The Animals, modern rock whiz Butch Walker and Nashville indie-pop favorite Jessie Baylin, along with several acts that have recorded on his personal label Readymade Records.

Benson talked to us about getting the gig together, why he's not interested in touring like he used to, how he couldn't escape Nashville's influence on "You Were Right," and why you probably won't hear a Christmas song from him on Wednesday...

So, what's the occasion for this show? You have a new album of course, but any other reason you're getting all these performers to join you at the Ryman?

No, there's never a need for a reason to get together with friends, I don't think. It was a sort of impulsive idea. Of course, it sort of was because of the new record, but I don't know, mostly it just sort of came to me - in a dream! (laughs) No, I guess part of the reason would be that I don't really want to, like, hit the road anymore, and go on tour like I used to. I've got a family, and it just doesn't work out very well for me. I thought this might be a good concentrated blast of stuff. I don't plan on taking it to other cities. It's a little bit of that too - an alternative to touring. I don't think it's a very effective alternative to touring, but maybe it eases my mind a little bit.

Country newcomer Kacey Musgraves and multiplatinum-selling country crossover Taylor Swift emerged as the top Nashville nominees when the Recording Academy announced nominations for its 56th annual Grammy Awards on Friday night, many of which were revealed during a live television concert on CBS. Jay Z tops overall nominations with nine.

Nashville’s Musgraves and Swift each had four nominations. They also tied for the top nominee for November’s CMA Awards.

LL Cool J hosted the show, which took place in Nashville in 2012 but this year returned to Los Angeles. Friday night’s show featured Swift and fellow Nashvillians Keith Urban and Ed Sheeran.